Don't cry tonight
by Dara Torres
Summary: AU - One Shot - Oliver Queen is babysitting baby Sara Diggle while her parents are having a date since things are calm in Starling City lately. Things go a little south and Oliver decides to call Felciity asking for her help. I. Notes: May contain spoilers of S3 of Arrow. Also, this is set on an AU where Tommy and Sara are alive.


The volume of the tv was low in the living room. The least thing he wanted was to wake her up because of him watching a football match on an attempt to keep calm. Lyla had left everything ready for him, anything that he could need was there but so far he didn't touch anything. Baby Sara was on her room, sleeping peacefully as her mother left her one hour ago, before leaving with Diggle to their first date in months. They needed it so much that Oliver couldn't say no to them when he was asked to babysit Sara the day before. So here he was, trying to not lose it and hoping that she would sleep until their parents were back. He wasn't scared, he kept repeating it for himself over and over again: if he could deal with bad guys threatening his city, he could take care of a three months old baby. But deep down he knew that the things he remembered about the time when Thea was a baby were not enough. He was a kid back then and when she started crying, Ollie would reach her mom and she took care of the situation. So his experience with kids was a little bit limited, although his friends had trusted him on this only God knows why.

He took another sip of the energy drink and breathed deeply. It was getting late and he decided it was a good moment to have dinner, so he headed to the kitchen when something made him froze. She was crying. She was awake on her room and she was crying. Carefully, he headed to the baby's room and took baby Sara from her crib. He started to rock her a little, smoothly and trying to calm her down. He gave her the dummy too, but nothing seemed to work. Maybe she was hungry. Yeah, exactly.

Heading back to kitchen he started to prepare the feeding bottle, with her still on his arms. This was very difficult and he couldn't stop himself from thinking how the hell did Diggle manage to do it everyday without going nuts. Sara was still crying when Oliver had the bottle ready so he tasted it first to see if it was in a good temperature before giving it to her. That seemed to calm her down, at least while she was eating. But as soon as she was done and there was no more milk left, she started crying again.

"Shh. Shhh… come on Sara, don't do this to uncle Ollie" he said, rocking her again in his arms. This was getting out of control for him and he was having such a hard time seeing her crying without anything he could do to help her, apparently. He tried to change her diaper, but it was clean. He tried to sing her a lullaby but it didn't work. He then remembered that most of the newly parents used to pat their babies back to help them burp, but even if he did burp a couple of times, that didn't work either.  
Defeated, he reached his phone on the living room table and clicked on the speed dial number that was meant to call her. She was the only one who may help him since Roy was patrolling that night, Thea was at Verdant working, Sara was out on a date with Nyssa – and those two were MIA when that happened – and Laurel and Tommy were out of town on vacations, so she was his only option. To be quite honest, she was actually the first person that popped in his mind as soon as he stepped inside Diggle's apartment hours ago. He just kept thinking about her being there with him.

"Oliver, what's happening?" her voice brought him back from his thoughts. She had a worried tone, which got bigger as soon as he heard Sara crying "What is going on?"  
"Felicity, could you please come to Diggle's? I think I need a little help here… Please?" His voice came out a little bit more worried of what he would have liked.  
"Yeah, I will be there in 5. But what's wrong? Why is Sara crying and where are her parents" Oliver could her her keys and a door closing behind her.  
"They are on a date and she woke up an hour ago. I tried to fed her but it's not enough. I don't know what is wrong with her."  
"Ok. Keep calm, I'll be right there" she said in what seemed a little bit more calmed tone. Somehow Oliver could notice she was smiling on the other side of the phone. But before he could say anything else, she hung up.  
"Shh. Shh. Come on Sara, back-up is coming. Hang in there." he said in a low tone to the baby as he gave her a kiss on the forehead. He was truly desperate and only hoped for Felicity to arrive quickly.

In no more than 10 minutes, someone was knocking on the door and Oliver went to open it as fast as he could. As soon as she saw him, she couldn't help herself from laugh a bit: he was grabbing Sara's pacifier with his teeth, holding the baby with his left arm while trying to distract her with a fluffy tiny unicorn on his other hand. He was sweaty and his eyes reflected how worried and desperate he was in that moment. Oliver Queen was being defeated by a baby. So yeah, she couldn't help it and cracked a smile not even caring if he saw her or not. But he seemed too busy to notice.

"Thank Godness you're here." He said looking at her as Felicity entered the place. It was a little messy: she could see more fluffy toys on the couch, Sara's blanket on the back of a chair, the tv on mute, a baby sleep soother still playing on the little table in front of the couch… and she didn't want to even look at the disaster on the kitchen. She took off her coat and left it with her purse on the living room's table to grab Sara's from Oliver's arms.  
"How long has she been crying?" she asked, putting the child in a position that made Oliver nervous: Sara wasn't looking up but the ground from Felicity's arm. She was holding her and grabbing the blanket to cover the baby with it while patting her back.  
"One hour, give it or take. I fed her and that was the only time she was quiet and peaceful, she even seemed she was falling asleep, but as soon as she was done with it she started crying again. I don't know what is wrong" he said, at the same time he moved his hands through his hair. "I swear I don't know what else to do. I might have hurt her somehow…"  
"It's ok Oliver." Felicity said without letting him finish the sentence "Babies cry all the time and sometimes they are uncomfortable for no reason. You just have to be patient and calm, they can sense if the adult holding them is nervous or not and if they are, the baby will cry even more." She kept moving around with Sara on her arms. "You did nothing wrong. Now go to the kitchen and clean up. I've got this" her smile was so bright, sincere and peaceful that Oliver felt relieved fir the first time in hours.

After what seemed an eternity but were merely half an hour, Sara had fell asleep again and Felicity was still holding her on her arms in a comfortable way while Oliver put the last thing on its right place before sitting on the couch. The TV was off and there was a silence filling the room, a really calming silence. Felicity sit on the couch too with the little baby lying on her chest, the blanket over her, sleeping as a little angel. Felicity smiled while looking at her.

"I am so sorry for interrupting your first free night in weeks" Oliver said to her in low voice.  
"It's ok, you don't need to worry." she kept looking at the baby with her eyes full of love.  
"How are you so lovely?" the words slipped out of his mouth so easy that it surprised even him "I mean, it seems you have a touch with kids or something." he tried to correct his previous sentence the best way he could. But she had heard him and was smiling, her cheeks turning into an adorable pink.  
"Well, my mother loves babies. I told you some weeks ago. When I was young she used to take care of some kids on our neighbourhood so I might got some of her tips here and there" she said, quietly, so naturally that Oliver couldn't help himself from smiling.  
"You are going to be an incredible mom someday Felicity" he said, looking at her, smiling too. This time, his words came out willingly, from the bottom of his heart. She looked at him and found herself hooked on his deep blue eyes.  
"Thank you" she said to him. "I'm sure you will be a good dad too Oliver, you only need to have patience and practice."  
"Maybe" he cracked a silent smile, looking at Sara now. "I'm glad you came."  
"It's not a daily thing that the Arrow calls me asking me for help" she answered him, not really paying attention to what she was saying, at the same time she closed her eyes. To be honest, she was feeling a bit tired.  
"You are wrong. I always need your help and always will." he whispered, watching her fall asleep, breathing deeply. And he stayed there, looking at both of them. Deep down, hoping that someday, in the future, he was looking at the same image but with Felicity holding their own child on her chest.


End file.
